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Philosophy Liberty and Moralism

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Philosophy Liberty and Moralism
Liberty of Expression Analysis

The idea of Freedom of Expression is recognized as a fundamental right in the construction of the United States constitution. For centuries, philosophers have presented their viewpoints and rationalities on how the idea of freedom of expression should be handled and what qualities this right should embrace. Philosophers Ronald Dworkin and John Stuart Mill have both presented personal thoughts on the rationalization of liberty of expression, and why it is imperative that we as a society defend this right. Ronald Dworkin and John Stuart Mill both present similar ideas when focusing on this subject, stating that it is a vital aspect to the success of society, but also have differing viewpoints on whether these rights should be controlled in certain situations. Ronald Dworkin supports a society where speech is almost completely uninhibited and should only be limited within an extreme extenuating circumstance. However, while he fully supports the idea of freedom of speech, John Stuart Mill also supports his thought of the “Harm Principle”, and the idea that free speech should not infringe upon it and should be controlled if it does. Unlike the ideas of Dworkin, John Stewart Mill presents the ideas of situations which need to be controlled in every day circumstances; and while he supports the overall idea of freedom of speech, he recognizes the management which is required when the rights of one are affected by the actions of another, in due course creating a system that is superior to that of Dworkin’s in the role of society, while ultimately achieving the same goal of freedom of expression.
John Stuart Mill is often recognized as the “Most influential English speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century”, and he made massive contributions to the ideas of social theory, political theory, and political economy. In Mill’s work On Liberty, he touches on the ideas of the rights of the common man, and limits of the power that the

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    Is
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or
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John
Stuart
Mill 
in
 Ninetee nth
Centur y
Philosophy
 By
Ellen
Melville
 
 This
paper
was
written
for
History
416:
Nineteenth
Century
German
and
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 Intellectual
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taught
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Spector
in
Fall
2008.
 
 
 
 John
Stuart
Mill,
son
of
the
noted
British
philosopher
James
Mill,
is
routinely
 grouped
with
Jeremy
Bentham
as
one
of
the
great
Utilitarian
thinkers
of
the
nineteenth
 century.
He
was
devoted
to
preserving
and
expanding
liberty,
along
with
promoting
a
 limited
government.
However,
his
writings
demonstrate
a
deep
skepticism
regarding
the
 complete
faculty
of
human
reason
as
deified
by
Enlightenment
philosophers
of
the
 eighteenth
century,
as
well
as
his
own
father.
To
Mill,
the
philosophic,
rational
approach,
 and
especially
the
Utilitarian
ideas
espoused
by
Bentham,
is
incomplete
in
that
it
fails
to
 consider
alternative
opinions
or
human
emotions
which
do
not
fit
into
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too
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